© Property of Re:Source June 2008 Young Minds and Developing Brains: Children in the Early Years Early Education Federation Forum Economics of ECE: What.

© Property of Re:Source June 2008

Young Minds and Developing Brains: Children in the Early Years

Early Education Federation ForumEconomics of ECE: What is the value of early childhood

education to children, families and society?Mercure Hotel, Willis Street, Wellington

Friday 5 November, 2010Charles and Kasia Waldegrave

Re:Source

© Property of

In knowledge economies, the interrelationship of cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional skills is very important.

A person’s ability to understand, interpret and productively utilise information is a sine qua non in knowledge economies where technologies and skill requirements are apt to change rapidly (Esping-Andersen 2003 p.142)

© Property of

• The convergance of two bodies of knowledge has led to a new appreciation of the importance of the pre-school years.

• The first concerns the significance of the interaction between genetic endowment and experience in the development of the young child’s brain, and the differing impacts that support and security bring when contrasted with stress and dysfunction in the child’s environment.

• The second springs from outcome evaluations that have demonstrated substantial net benefits from early childhood education that includes parental support in the acquisition of life skills and of productivity in adulthood.

© Property of

A growing number of rigorous evaluative controlled longitudinal studies have produced results that demonstrate high quality early childhood education and parenting programmes can contribute substantially to school readiness, improved educational performance and increased economic success in adulthood (Karoly et al 2005, Heckman 2006a, Schulman & Barnett 2006).

Nobel Laureat James Heckman has argued from these studies that:The best evidence suggests learning begets learning. Early investments in learning are effective (Heckman & Lochner 2000 Conclusion p.75).

© Property of

Distinguishing between neurodevelopment and cognitive development

• Neurodevelopment refers to the growth and development of the physical tissues of the brain which consist of billions of neurons.

• Cognitive development refers to the growth of neural capacities by which children, in particular, learn to more accurately understand their environment and relate logically to it.

• While neurodevelopment is necessary for cognitive development, growth in cognitive activity and ability is not normally directly associated with measurable tissue growth in the brain.

• Social science literature in this field often refers to brain development when they are identifying cognitive development in children in much the same way as they refer to the growth of neurons that make up the physical tissue of the brain. This is can be confusing and has led to controversy.

© Property of

Enhancing or Hindering Optimal Development• The evidence suggests normal cognitive development does not

require particularly special experiences or conditions to thrive, because it is remarkably adaptable in normal non-hostile circumstances and the ‘normal’ environment is naturally rich for most children. It takes place as children experience and adapt in their particular worlds.

• Families and other caregiving environments that are safe, predictable and loving will protect children. In ordinary environments, where children experience normal levels of security and love, the brain simply develops, adapting to its environment in a resilient manner. As it does so, children undergo critical foundational experiences that enable them to acquire language, develop increasingly complex cognitive abilities, progress emotionally and socially, and develop their regulatory abilities and associated capacities for self-control.

• By contrast abusive or neglectful care in families is damaging to

normal child development. Neuroscientific data provides evidence that experiences of sustained neglect, stress or trauma within a caregiving environment are damaging to cognitive and brain development.

© Property of

The Human Brain

(Source: Gerhardt 2004 op cit p.35)

© Property of

The Stress Hormone Cortisol

• If a child’s needs are not reliably met in a timely fashion, and the child is not soothed, stress levels in the child rise and other maladaptive cycles begin to be established. The amygdala will respond automatically, overriding the cortex by flooding the young child with cortisol. Prolonged stress can escalate cortisol levels to a threshold where they damage the developing neurotransmitter systems (Gunnar & Donzella 2002).

• Paradoxically, people need to have a satisfying experience of dependency before they can become truly independent and self regulating. The “fight or flight” response to threat is at the basis of this development. A baby can do very little to regulate itself other than to cry louder (fight) for attention or withdraw mentally (flight). Both are accompanied by the stress hormone cortisol (Gerhardt 2004).

© Property of

Pathways from Brain Research to PolicyThe National Summit on America’s Children

US House of Representatives. 3 January, 2008

All Children experience stress – what matters is the type of stress and how it is supported. Positive stress – when a caregiver provides warmth and responsiveness to relieve it – fosters normal brain development. Toxic stress – when no one responds tenderly or the response is harsh or hurtful – actually interrupts brain development by reducing or changing neural connections and can have long-term negative consequences. When parents are absent, unpredictable, compromised or unsafe, it actually interrupts the firing of the synapses that create healthy brain architecture (Highlights p 9)

© Property of

Developing Self Regulation• Caregivers play an important role in helping infants learn to

moderate and regulate their emotions and cognition through simple eye movements and distraction strategies for example, to which the child responds.

• Where the caregiver fails to be involved in teaching the moderation and regulation of emotions in a reliable and timely fashion, the child misses the development of a deeply ingrained pathway to self-discipline (Thompson 1998, Izard 1991).

• They develop executive attention processes, like selection and inhibitory control, which can be applied to learning the complex skills taught in school. They learn to anticipate when looking and resolving conflict between what they appear to see and what they anticipated. This is part of the development of the anterior cingulate and the executive attention system (Berger et al 2007).

• If attachments are jeopardised in early childhood, or if the child is not assisted to reduce stress through a comforting caregiver, their reduced capacity to regulate their emotions and cognition means their likelihood of finding dysfunctional solutions to emotional dilemmas is increased (Cozolino 2006) .

© Property of

• When an individual’s capacity to manage their own feelings has been impaired by having poorly developed emotional systems, they become vulnerable to behaviours and responses which are self-harming or damaging to relationships with others (Mazza and Reynolds 1998, Anderson et al 1999).

• Feelings are both biologically and socially determined. As feelings happen and are experienced as thoughts, psychological changes take place in the person’s nervous system, endocrine system and other systems. If a child articulates those feelings and they are then pushed away, an important source of regulatory feedback is lost and the opportunity to gain some control over the duration and intensity of feelings disappears.

• Even if psychological science has shown that most learning is domain-specific, the unique nature of attention as a critical aspect in all domains of explicit learning supports its use as a preparation for schooling. We believe a strong national priority should be given to adopting the best and most appropriate methods to assist all children in the important goal of self-regulation (Posner and Rothbart 2007 pp.118&119)

© Property of

Neglect

• In relationships where the needs of the child are continually ignored, the developmental damage can be severe chronic and irreversible (Perry et al 2002). At the same time, the child may be learning that their role in the family group is tenuous, their existence unnecessary, and their future survival is in question. For this reason, to be ignored is possibly worse than to be abused in other ways. In this sense, neglect is abuse.

• Neglect in the earliest period of life may lead to severe or chronic damage. When a child is neglected, their development is disrupted. Without remedial interventions, the deficit stays with the child into the next stages of development and negatively influences subsequent growth. As a result, problems can multiply. The foundations for later healthy growth and development can be damaged (Perry et al 2002 op cit).

© Property of

• Chugani and colleagues (2001), using neuroimaging techniques, demonstrated altered brain development in neglected children. Romanian orphans showed decreased metabolic activity in the orbital frontal gyrus, the infralimbic prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and head of the hippocampus, the lateral temporal cortex and the brain stem

• Perry and Pollard (1997) Perry (2002) found that children removed from sensory deprived neglectful environments and placed in foster care showed measured increases in their frontal-occipital circumference after a year. The increases were greater for those who were removed after one year than for those who were removed with two or more years of neglect.

© Property of

Gene-Environment Interaction

• One of the most exciting and important findings in recent years has been the growing body of evidence that specific environments have major effects on the expression of specific genes in specific body tissues, including specific parts of the brain (Rutter 2006, p 182)

• Studies show that children recruit larger, more diffuse prefrontal regions when performing these cognitive control tasks than adults do. The pattern of activity within the brain regions central to such task performance becomes more focal and fine-tuned with increased activity, whereas brain regions not correlated with such task performance decrease in activity with age (Casey et al 2005, p 240)

© Property of

Over-claims in Brain development

• The controversial claims have been subject to considerable critique, and the balance of scientific opinion has moderated the more rigid claims.

• The strict emphasis on critical periods which if missed, is fatal for that particular development, is not supported by the evidence.

• The use it or lose it view and the focus on the first three years is considered now, by most scholars, to be an exaggeration

© Property of

• the claim that stimulation during the first three years increases synapse formation suggests that more synapses equals more brainpower. Its significance has been misunderstood.

• there are some critical period constraints but only for specific kinds of learning and development. Greenough et al refers to the distinction between experience–expectant and experience-dependant brain plasticity (1987). Critical periods tend to exist for sensory skills, motor skills and language.

• These require experience-expectant brain plasticity that will enable the acquisition of species-typical traits that have their origins in evolutionary history.

• Experience-dependant brain plasticity, in contrast, is for traits and behaviours that are relevant to individuals, social groups or cultures, as opposed to species. They are not time limited, but can involve learning during any period of a lifetime.

• The literature does not really offer a clear answer as to whether enriched environments stimulate greater neurodevelopment in children who live in normally safe, secure and loving environments.

© Property of

 Perry Preschool

Carolina Abecedarian

Chicago Child-Parent Centers

Outcomes      

Increased short-term IQ Yes Yes Not measured

Increased long-term IQ No Yes Not measured

Increased long-term achievement

Yes Yes Yes

Special education 37% v. 50% 25% v. 48% 14% v. 25%

Retained in grade 35% v. 40% 31% v. 55% 23% v. 38%

High school graduation 65% v. 45% 67% v. 51% 50% v. 39%

Arrested by 21 15% v. 25% 45% v. 41% 17% v. 25%

Benefit-Cost Results      

Cost $16,264 $36,929 $7,417

Benefit $277,631 $139,571 $52,936

Benefit/Cost Ratio 17.07 3.78 7.14

Sources: Barnett (1993, 1998); Masse & Barnett (2002); Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, & Mann (2002); Schweinhart et al. (2005)

Table 1. Outcomes and Cost-Benefit Analyses of the Perry Preschool, Carolina Abecedarian, and Chicago Child-Parent Centers Programs

© Property of

Table 2. Measured Outcomes and Program Impacts for Adult Outcomes for Targeted ECE Programs

Adult outcome domain

Program (age at last follow-up)

Educational attainment

Employment and earnings

Social services used

Crime

Abecedarian

(age 21)

Years of completed schooling Ever attended 4-year college

Skilled employment

Perry Preschool

(age 40)

High School graduation

Employment

Earnings

Income

Use of Social Services

Arrests

Arrests for violent crimes

Time in prison/jail

Chicago Child Parent Centers

(age 21)

High School Graduation

Highest Grade completed

Arrests

Arrests for violent crimes

Source: Adapted from Karoly, Kilburn, and Cannon (2005) in Karoly (2006)

© Property of

Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mā Tauranga mö ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa; Early Childhood

Curriculum There are four broad principles:Empowerment; Holistic Development; Family and Community; and Relationships

These principles are interwoven with five strands:•Wellbeing - Mana Atua: the health and wellbeing of the child are protected and nurtured•Belonging - Mana Whenua: Children and their families feel a sense of belonging•Contribution - Mana Tangata: Opportunities for learning are equitable and each child’s contribution is valued•Communication - Mana Reo: The languages and symbols of their own and other cultures are promoted and protected•Exploration - Mana Aotūroa: The child learns through active exploration of the environment

© Property of

Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation Indicators

• confidence and competence as a learner as a result of active exploration;

• confidence and competence as a communicator as a result of active exploration;

• a sense of continuity and belonging as a result of effective relationships and communication between home and the early childhood service; and

• a sense of wellbeing and contribution as the result of effective engagement with early childhood education experiences that challenge and stimulate children to learn, think and grow in confidence (ERO 2004, p.24).

© Property of

Dunedin and Christchurch Longitudinal Studies

• At 26 years - the childhood-onset delinquents were the most elevated on psychopathic personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, numbers of children, financial problems, work problems, and drug-related and violent crime, including violence against women and children. The adolescent-onset delinquents at 26 years were less extreme but elevated on impulsive personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, financial problems, and property offences (Moffitt et al 2002, p.179).

• Of the accumulating factors of disadvantage that led to an increased risk of crime later in life Family adversity, including higher rates of physical punishment and child abuse; reduced levels of maternal care; changes in parental figures; low attachment to parents; and parental criminality.Family factors provided the strongest association, while the other three were weaker, but significant (Fergusson et al 2004, p 953).

© Property of

Ways Forward• The knowledge we have from neuroscience and cognitive development

studies of children is increasingly shared by educated and informed people, and aspects of it are passed on through ECE and parenting programmes, as has been described. However, it is questionable whether most people are aware of it’s significance while bringing up children.

• Information needs to be focussed in the first instance to a target group of those families who are at risk of abusing or neglecting their children and the key groups that work with them, and secondly more generally to the population as a whole.

• Helpful information could be packaged in ways that are familiar and delivered in a carefully tailored manner through trusted sources in local communities. It is very important that parents, extended families and neighbourhoods of children at risk receive the message comfortably so they can act on it confidently. The broader population could become much more informed through a widespread public education drive.

• It is important to continue to create increasing access to high quality early childhood education. The high quality of this sector in New Zealand is ideally placed to buffer against the negative effects on children at risk and create authentic and natural connections between their parents and extended families, and informed people who can enable support and information.

© Property of

• The policy of focusing investment on young children, and lifting their families out of poverty, needs to continue, and extend its reach into low income households further. The stress many of these families still experience is often associated with negative outcomes in health and education for children

• There is a need for further New Zealand specific research. We require much more information on the impacts of impaired development for children who suffer different forms of abuse and/or neglect so as policies and practices can be developed to substantially prevent and reduce it in the future.

• We need research that can help identify and quantify the incidence in New Zealand and studies that assess the effectiveness of a variety of enhanced family and educational environments to restore potential for those whose development has been impaired.

• We need research that measures the effectiveness of both targeted and general public education programmes designed to prevent children becoming ‘at risk’ and promoting safe, secure and loving family and other complementary environments.